Feeder



Patentet! May 15, 1934 UNiro s'rArEs statai) Application April 14, 1930, Serial No. 443,964l Renewed April 9, 1934 2 Claims.

My invention relates to feeders and has for its object to provide a feeder which is adapted to carry mash feeds or other feeds which have a tendency to clog in the feeder.

a My invention is particularly useful in connection with feeders for chicks, such feeders being rather small, and the feed which is fed to chicks ordinarily is of such nature as to rather easily clog a feeder.

The present invention has two basic features. It utilizes the principai of Vibration of the hopper wall b f the impact of the bills of the chickens against it, and it provides a wall having 662/3% or better closing surface, and yet offering very little resistance to the downward fiow of the feed Within the hopper.

further object of my invention is to provide a feeder which accomplishes this result in a very simple, durable and inexpensive construction.

29 With these and other objects in View, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attaned, as hereinafter more fully set forth,

pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the feeder, parts being broken away to better illustrate the construction.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the feeder.

3 is a transverse sectional view of the feeder.

In the drawing, the reference character 10 has been used to indicate generally a conventional bottom construction, the bottom being formed of sheet metal and providing the central dividing ridge 11 and the side trough walls The end walls 13 are Secured by means of ears 14 to the side walls 12 and are secured to the fianges 15 of the hopper walls 16 as at 17.

The top 18 of the feeder is provided with the conventional inturning flanges 19 which engage flanges 20 at the upper extremity of the hopper walls 16, whereby the top is Secured to the feeder.

The feeder is filled by sliding the top endwise.

It will be understood that I do not consider any invention to reside in any of the individual features just described. Feeders having the 0 outwardly and downwardly fiared hopper walls, the ridged bottom wall which spreads the feed in two directions, and the troughs into which the lower extremity of the hopper walls extend, are old.

551 But in feeders having these features of construction, there has continually been present the problem of clogging between the hopper walls and the spreading ridge of the bottom. It is desirable in a construction of this type that the angle of inclination of the hopper walls be much nearer the vertical to that of the spreader walls. otherwise, the capacity of the hopper would be naturally reduced.

With the two walls between which the feed must travel downwardly converging downwardly, it can readily be seen how the tendency of these walls to compress the feed between them will add itself to the natural tendency of certain feeds to clog, and create serious difficulties in the feeding of the material to the trough.

I have attempted to solve this problem by pro- Viding woven wire side walls for the hopper. The chicks can thus see the feed and will peck at the side walls so as to transmit some movement of the feed within the hopper. But woven wire is very unsuitable for this purpose, because there is a tendency for the particles of feed to stick in the meshes thereof.

It has occurred to me that the problem could be solved by employing a side wall of sheet metal, the feed within the feeder being exposed through slots cut in the sheet metal without detracting from the efiiciency of the member as a hopper wall for retaining the feed. It would appear that a slotted sheet metal wall would not retain finely comminuted feeds. In order that the desirable result of exposing the feed to the view of the chickens may be accomplished, the slots must be made of substantial width. It would seem that in doing so, the efficiency of the hopper wall as a retaining member would be destroyed and the feed allowed to escape through the slots, particularly when the feed happened to be a dry feed in rather finely comminuted state.

But I discover that this objection is imaginary when the slots are positioned vertically or substantially vertically. The natural tendency for the feed to Wedge together will be sufiicient to prevent it from flowing freely through such slotted openings. The tendency for the feed to spread laterally under pressure from above is satisfied by the slight lateral inclination of the hopper walls themselves, and since the greatest force acting upon the feed is in a downward di- 105 rection, the particles naturally move downwardly in the paths of least resistance. In this connection it may be noted that the positioning of the slots substantially vertically insures a minimum resistance to downward movement and the ab- 11.0

sence of any tendency to guide the particles of feed outwardly through the slots.

The primary function of the slots is to expose the feed to the chickens. But this must be done in such a manner that there will be no added resistance to the passage of feed downwardly in the hopper. The use of woven wire added to that resistance.

I have discovered that use of the slots actually decreases the resistance which would be offered by a smooth continuous sheet metal hopper wall. This will be understood when it is considered that there is less surface against which the particles of feed may rub in their downward passage. Consequently there is less friction.

But a possibly more important reason for the decreased resistance arises from the manner in which a Chicken will attack the feed exposed by the slots. The movement of the bill of a Chicken when picking is a downwardly swinging movement, and the substantially vertical slots will allow a downwardly directed blow from the bill of a Chicken to be imparted to the mass of feed exposed by a slot.

It will be understood that the bill of a Chicken will strike the sheet metal wall a part of the time and will contact directly with the feed a part of the time. When the bill of the Chicken strikes the wall itself, the blow will impart a vibratory movement to the wall and this Will have a tendency to loosen and shake down the feed within the hopper.

It will be understood that when a Chicken is picking at the hopper wall, that some feed will find its way out through the slots. This is obvious. I-Iowever, it is undesirable that the feed should flow freely into the slots as this Would destroy the function of the feeder, allowing the feed to run down and completely fill the trough 12 from the outside. The small amount of feed which is dislodged by the chickens will fiow into the trough and will not be wasted.

It may be noted that the slots extend more than one-half the Width of the hopper wall from top to bottom. It is important that the slots be long enough so as to expose the feed during a majority of the depth of the hopper.

It may be noted further that the slots are extended rather close to the lower edge of the hopper wall. Since congestion is more likely to occur in the lower region of the hopper, it is more important that the slots be extended close to the lower edge than to the upper edge. Enough metal is left to give substantial Strength and rigidity to the side wall.

Although the slots are shown in the drawing positioned only at one angle, namely perpendicular to the lower edge of the hopper Wall, it will be understood that invention embracesV the positioning of the slots at any angle between the perpendicular and that angle where the edges will begin to offer resistance to the downward fiow of feed. This angle will be approximately 45, although it will be understood that the efficiency of the invention increases as the perpendicular position is approached.

In summing up, it may be stated that the solution of the problem of free feeding within a hopper of this type arises first from the use of a wall having elongated slots, which allow the Chicken to view and to have excess to the feed within the hopper and second, from the disposition of the slots in positions which approach the vertical so nearly that there is substantially no resi-stance oiered by the edges of the slots to the downward passage of feed.

An important addition to the above elements is the use of sheet metal or similarly elastiC material in the construction of the wall of the hopper, whereby the wall is made vibratory.

Some changes may be made in the Construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. A feeder including a trough and a hopper for feeding comminuted feed into the trough from above, said hopper including an upstanding Wall the lower edge of which is spaced above the trough toallow said feed to fiow therebelow into the trough, said wall being Constructed from a sheet of resilient sheet metal provided with a plurality of spaced upstanding slots of suificient narrowness to retain the comminuted material within the hopper while affording very little resistance to downward feeding thereof.

2. A feeder including a trough and a hopper for feeding comminuted feed into the trough from above, said hopper including an upstanding wall the lower edge of which is spaced from the trough to allow said feed to flow therebelow into the trough, said wall being Constructed of a sheet of resilient sheet metal provided with a plurality of spaced upstanding slots of sufficient narrowness to retain the comminuted feed within the hopper while affording very little resistance to downward feeding thereof, said slots being spaced closely enough and being of sufficient height to provide between them a series of relatively narrow slats of sufiicient resiliency that blows from the bills of Chickens attacking the feed disclosed by said slots will Cause said slats to vibrate so as to Cause said feed to move readily downwardly.

OLIVER N. GINGRICH. 

